BSP to give ‘secret outside support’ to Independents

ahujan Samaj Party had decided to extend ‘secret, outside support’ to Independent candidates in the ensuing by-polls. It had been done to boost the sagging morale of its cadre, which is low after the party’s debacle in Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
According to sources, BSP workers will support and vote for candidates selected by its leaders. The party will test its organisational structure at the booth level in the constituencies going for bypoll on September 13, a senior party leader said.
BSP chief Mayawati has instructed Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Ram Achal Rajbhar and Swami Prasad Maurya to choose Independent candidates but asked them not to endorse or share stage with the contestants publicly.
No party leader will tell these Independent candidates about BSP supporting them, Maurya told TOI.
A total of 43 Independent candidates are contesting on 11 Assembly constituencies, with Balha (Reserved) in Bahraich having only one Independent candidate.
Source added that leaders are likely to finalise the names of Independent candidates to whom the party will extend ‘secret, outside support.’ The party has to exercise caution as several Independents enter the electoral fray only to help a mainstream candidate by cutting rival votes, a BSP leader explained.
Supporting Independents will also help the party to test its hold on its core vote base of Dalits and keep them away from BJP. The leader said that regardless of the outcome of bypolls, the morale of its cadre will not be hit as there are no official candidates.
Meanwhile, demand for public address by Yogi Adityanath is pouring in. Candidates want to cash in on the Gorakhpur MP’s pro-Hindutva image and are hopeful that his campaign will unite Hindus in their favour, when the contest looks set between BJP and SP.
Bahraich district president Gulab Chandra Shukla said that the party had asked state leadership for Adityanath’s meeting here.
There are around 30,000 Muslim voters in Balha (Reserved) seat.
Adityanath said he will campaign in constituencies where workers want him and where the party will send him. BJP candidate Akshayvar Lal Gaur is a former minister.
Congress is facing scarcity of funds. Party candidate Shyamta Prasad is banking on local leaders for campaign. There is a question mark on the star campaigners would hold public meetings.
Campaigning in Balha (Reserved) constituency is taking an interesting twist. Samajwadi Party is trying to stop polarization of Hindu votes in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party.
Unlike the Lok Sabha elections, when SP had put up Shabbir Ahmed Balmiki from Bahraich, this time the party initially announced Shabbir’s name but replaced him at the last moment by Banshi Dhar, a former cadre worker of Bahujan Samaj Party. It was intended to avert polarization of Hindu votes.
The strategy is guided by the fact that loyal BSP voters would go for Banshi Dhar and so will other non-BJP voters, including Muslims, thus giving SP an edge. Shabbir Ahmed is learnt to have not taken kindly to the SP leadership’s decision. He is said to be in touch with Muslim leaders to upset the chances of Banshi Dhar.
Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phule started her career as a Bahujan Samaj Party leader in 2003 and later joined BJP. She was elected from Balha (R) Assembly seat in 2012 and then from Bahraich Lok Sabha seat in 2014 because of Modi wave. She believes that her popularity was behind her victory and candidate of her choice should have been fielded from the seat she had vacated.
Balha (R) area was previously known as Charda (R). But during last assembly elections in 2012 under new delimitation, Charda (R) was converted as Balha (R). During last assembly elections, Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phule defeated BSP candidate Kiran Devi by a margin of about 20,000 votes. The seat fell vacant, when she was elected as BJP MP recently.